~June~
11) Emblaze by Jessica Shirvington
12) That Time I Joined the Circus by J.J. Howard
13) Insomnia by J.R. Johansson
14) Blood Feud by Alyxandra Harvey
15) A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee
16) The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
17) The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder
18) Some Quiet Place by Kelsey Sutton
19) The Boy on the Bridge by Natalie Standiford

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Synopsis via Goodreads
The only thing worse than forgetting her past... is remembering it.

When Freedom Airlines flight 121 went down over the Pacific Ocean, no one ever expected to find survivors. Which is why the sixteen-year-old girl discovered floating among the wreckage—alive—is making headlines across the globe.

Even more strange is that her body is miraculously unharmed and she has no memories of boarding the plane. She has no memories of her life before the crash. She has no memories period. No one knows how she survived. No one knows why she wasn’t on the passenger manifest. And no one can explain why her DNA and fingerprints can’t be found in a single database in the world.

Crippled by a world she doesn’t know, plagued by abilities she doesn’t understand, and haunted by a looming threat she can’t remember, Seraphina struggles to piece together her forgotten past and discover who she really is. But with every clue only comes more questions. And she’s running out of time to answer them.

Her only hope is a strangely alluring boy who claims to know her from before the crash. Who claims they were in love. But can she really trust him? And will he be able to protect her from the people who have been making her forget?

From popular young adult author, Jessica Brody comes a mesmerizing and suspenseful new series, set in a world where science knows no boundaries, memories are manipulated, and true love can never be forgotten.

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Let me start by saying that I've never really had an overwhelming urge to read one of Jessica Brody's books...until now. This one just sounds so intense and suspenseful and exciting! I'm really looking forward to this one! What about you?

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

KS: My background is in drama and computer game design, and it’s been a blast to get to use all those skills in writing an interactive series. I’m currently a screenwriter based in Los Angeles, working on the Syfy TV show “Alphas.” I also wrote for “Eureka” and the cult hit vampire drama “Moonlight,” which is where I fell in love with blending paranormal romance and mystery. As for not-so-paranormal romance, I’m engaged to a fantastic man and we’re getting married in August – so I’m juggling wedding planning along with “Alphas” and writing Parish Mail Book 2!

TBP: Describe Dead Letter Office using nine words or less.

KS: Veronica Mars meets True Blood: magic, murder, hot ghosts...

TBP: What was it like writing an interactive story and how did you come about the decision to write Dead Letter Office in that fashion.

KS: I’ve found writing interactive books both very challenging and very rewarding. I create two documents, an outline and a flowchart, when developing the story, and those are how I track the narrative beats as well as the various choice points and paths. There’s a lot of story “testing” to make sure the reader sees the right text after making a certain choice – sometimes the changes are quite subtle from version to version.

I had been considering writing Parish Mail as a TV pilot and even as a movie, but after talking with Lisa Rutherford at Coliloquy it quickly became clear that an interactive, episodic series of books would be such a rich, fun way to tell these stories. I love the idea of letting the reader shape their own reading experience. Would you rather follow forensic clues with hottie Donovan? Or magical clues with your quirky BFF Tilly? Which suspect should Celia chase? Only an interactive book can give you that freedom.

TBP: Dead Letter Office is set in the beautiful, history rich city of New Orleans. What is your connection to New Orleans and one of your favorite things about it?

KS: I’m fascinated with urban history, particularly cities where the very new and the very old exist side by side. In America we don’t have many of these places, but New Orleans is one, and is unique in its cultural evolution and everyday acceptance of the supernatural.

But – true confession time – I’ve never been to New Orleans! Not yet, anyway… it’s a city I’d dearly love to visit, and might try to as I’m finishing up Parish Mail Book 2. I did grow up partly in the South (Virginia) and I did a ton of research both online and off- including several interviews with a friend who’s a 16th-generation New Orleans native.

TBP: The emotions that Celia goes through after the loss of her father are so palpable and real. Have you experienced a similar loss?

KS: Celia’s loss is a devastating and emotionally complicated one that I’m trying to portray as truthfully as I can with having never gone through it myself. People in my life have passed away, and those are some of the experiences I’m drawing on here, but I am so fortunate in having both of my wonderful parents around.

TBP: Now, time for some fun. Let's lighten things up a bit. You just murdered a celebrity. Who was it, why, and how?

KS: For someone who kills people in stories all the time, I’m actually pretty live-and-let-live! But I wouldn’t mind if I had a machine to zap those annoying, selfish, greedy reality show stars off to a desert island, never to be heard from again…

TBP: If you could shapeshift into any animal, which would it be and why?

KS: I've always envied the elegance and mystery of cats. And their ability to nap for 22 hours a day.

TBP: You wake up in the hospital and are told you were electrocuted. What stupid thing were you doing to cause that to happen?

KS: My bathroom is tiny with badly-placed outlets, so I’m gonna go with dropping my hairdryer into the sink.

TBP: Zombies are taking over the world and it is up to you to stop them. You can choose ANY three people to help you fight them off and one supernatural power? Who do you pick and which power?

KS: Supernatural power: the ability to start and control fire. Useful for roasting zombies, and even better to set up defenses, protect ourselves from other survivors, and to keep warm in a world without electricity.

As far as my posse, my fiancé for sure – he and I have long discussions all the time about zombie apocalypse preparation and defense. I’m not even kidding. He’s very handy, and so could build things we’d need to survive. I’d also invite along a doctor, bonus points if he or she had a bag of antibiotics and other medical supplies. And probably an expendable, out of shape guy just in case: as the old joke goes, we don’t have to outrun the zombies, we just have to outrun him.

TBP: Anything else you'd like to add?

KS: Thanks so much for having me on your blog! I’m really excited to bring you and your readers the Southern Gothic/urban fantasy/teen detective spicy gumbo that is the Parish Mail series. Hope you enjoy it!

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Thanks, Kira, for that wonderful interview. And thanks to you readers who've stopped by to read it. I hope you enjoyed it. To find out more about Dead Letter Office and see what I thought, check out my review.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Pushing the Limitsby Katie McGarryPublisher: Harlequin TeenPub. Date: July 31stPages: 384Age Level: YASynopsis via Goodreads"I won't tell anyone, Echo. I promise." Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins? His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms. "You didn't do that-did you? It was done to you?" No one ever asked that question. They stared. They whispered. They laughed. But they never asked.

So wrong for each other...and yet so right.

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.

"An edgy romance that pulls you in and never lets go. I was hooked!"-Gena Showalter, New York Times bestselling author of the Intertwined series.

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Contest Details

Thanks to Karen with Media Masters Publicity, one lucky person will win a copy of Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Out of the Easy
By Ruta Sepetys
Philomel Books
February 13th, 2013
Young Adult

Synopsis via Goodreads
Known amongst locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than The Big Easy has to offer. She devises a plan to get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld, New Orleans lures Josie in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as her international bestselling novel, "Between Shades of Gray," Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.

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So I still need to read Between Shades of Gray, which I have heard is amazing and own. And Out of the Easy sounds fabulous as well. As a matter of fact, there was a drop for it at BEA and I just barely missed it. I was so disappointed. So now I'll be waiting until 2013. O_o Love the cover of this one as well. So rich and colorful. What do you think? Is this a book you'll be waiting for?

Synopsis via GoodreadsWhen Celia’s father is killed in Afghanistan, she moves with her mother to New Orleans, the city where her father grew up. Struggling to adjust and haunted by troubling dreams, Celia finds comfort in new friends like Tilly, a practicing witch, and Donovan, the son of police detective. On Halloween, bizarre supernatural occurrences rock the city. Celia meets the mysterious Luc and finds a letter, over a hundred years old, addressed to her.

The paranormal repercussions continue when Celia learns that Luc is the restless spirit of a young man murdered in 1854, only able to assume solid form at night. And then, to her shock, Celia finds that the letter, which describes the suspected murder of a man in 1870, contains uncanny parallels to the present-day death of Abel Sims, a homeless veteran.

With help from Luc, Tilly, and Donovan, Celia races to solve the murder—and the mystery of the letter—using both magical and forensic clues.

This is an Active Fiction title
"Active fiction" is a new type of e-reading experience that allows the reader and the author to interact with each other and the text in new and different ways.

ReviewDead Letter Office is a fun, though somewhat flawed, debut from Kira Snyder that thoroughly shows off her creativity and imaginative skills as a story teller. While I did have my problems with it, the plot really shined and I found myself enjoying Dead Letter Office overall.

My biggest issue with the characters was that I felt that they were underdeveloped. They all had their own individualistic personalities, etc, but they lacked a sense of real depth, in my opinion. Celia, Tilly, and Donovan all seem to be pretty face-value characters and I would really like to see more. The characters I feel have the most potential to surprise me are Luc, Sloan, and Peyton, all of whom appear to have more going on with them. Other than that, I did like our main characters and disliked Peyton and Sloan, like I should. I think I may actually prefer Donovan to Luc, poor human boys just can't get cut any slack these days, but I'm much more curious about Luc. Celia seems to be a heroine with some potential to be great and her emotions and regret regarding the death of her father and their last conversation were very palpable and keenly portrayed. I'm not exactly loving her at this point but feel I might later on as I see her get more time to grow. Another little issue I had with the characters was the occasional conflict between them sometimes came off as too quickly resolved, like the short length of the story was rushing any problems to a solution. For example, when Celia and her mom get into it. Celia immediately feels bad afterwards and is very quick to apologize. Now, generally this is good but that seemed to be her reaction to each such conflict and it became a little unrealistic.

Dead Letter Office is my first ever 'Active Fiction' read. I had never even read one of those 'choose your own adventure books' when I was little, for that matter. I have to say, I loved getting to choose which direction the plot went and I approved of how you always reached the same destination, you just affected which path the character journeyed to get there. My one main issue, which isn't really an issue, is that I wish there had been more opportunities throughout the book to choose how things happened. Not a lot more, but just maybe a couple or so. As for the plot itself, I love books set in New Orleans and the story was very...voodoo Nancy Drew with its magical, witchcraft elements stirred in with a murderous mystery. I was expecting/hoping the story was going to be darker than it was, just because I wasn't in the mood for light at the time, but I ended up enjoying it just the same. The plot also moved very quickly, and while a little predictable, was sufficiently compelling, not to mention original. I mean, come on, an old tree with a hidden compartment that sends mysterious letters from the past about a murder connected to a similar one in the present? How cool is that?

The writing was...well...it just was. I didn't particularly dislike it but nothing about it really stood out to me as being great or particularly well polished. If nothing else, it was at least consistent throughout and quickly read.

The ending was a bit tricky in that there was one place that seemed a lot like a good place for the book to be ending, but then it continued on for an additional segment before actually drawing to a close. That said, the way the book ended was quite adequate in that it resolved any immediate conflict while leaving things set up nicely for the next installment.

In Esscence

Characters:A little flawed but likable. They could have been a bit more developed.Plot:Compelling, original, and fast-paced with rich setting.Writing:Sort of indifferent to it. Writing could have been better but wasn't bad. Ending:Pretty good way to wrap up the story.1st in Series:A fairly solid start. Enjoyment/Likability:This was a fun, kick back and relax kind of read. Recommendable:Yes! Despite flaws, still a good read.

Overall:Dead Letter Office isn't perfect but I look forward to seeing the author grow in her writing, and the story deepen, as the series continues. I really liked the active fiction aspect, but would have liked to have seen more chances to choose paths pop up. A quick and original story that I enjoyed reading.

Cover:Very different but like it pretty well. Fits plot, though it makes book seem potentially darker than it is.

Synopsis via Goodreads
The girl with no past, and no future, may be the only one who can save their lives.

Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die.

Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life.

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This. Sounds. So. GOOD! Like, for serious! You can tell I'm excited, right? Right?! Really though, the synopsis for this book has really got me hooked and I can't wait to read this one. And the cover is pretty rockin' as well. What do you think? Is this one on your wishlist?

Synopsis via Goodreads
Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia meets Lo.

Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark immortality.

When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

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Welcome to my Summer Reads Giveaway, one of MANY giveaways in a hop hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer & Rex Robot Reviews! I'm giving away an ARC of Fathomless by Jackson Pearce. While I was at BEA, I snagged this one up at a drop, thinking I didn't have time to get in line for the signing later. Well, I was actually able to go to the signing after all because the line suprisingly got really short. So now I have two copies, and one of them is for you! Though it doesn't have the pretty cover above. This giveaway is international! Be sure to check out the other giveaways for the hop listed below.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Synopsis via Goodreads
Mallory's life is falling apart. Her boyfriend was stabbed. He bled to death in her kitchen. Mallory was the one who stabbed him. But she can't remember what happened that night. She only remembers the fear . . .

When Mallory's parents send her away to a boarding school, she thinks she can escape the gossip and the threats. But someone, or something, has followed her. There's the hand that touches her shoulder when she's drifting off to sleep. A voice whispering her name. And everyone knows what happened. So when a pupil is found dead, Mallory's name is on their lips. Her past can be forgotten but it's never gone. Can Mallory live with that?

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I enjoyed Megan's debut, Fracture, pretty well so I'm looking forward to reading another book by her. And this one sounds very promising. As for the cover, not near as spectacular as the Fracture cover but I like it pretty well. My main issue is the font, particularly the title font. So what do you think? Sound good? Look good?